Protocol
by Lady Illusia
Summary: Protcol dictates every action. They tell us what we are supposed to do in situations; how we are to react. Spartan's are supposed to live up to protocol. But, do they ever wonder about what happens outside of protocol?
1. Prologue

**A/N: I'm trying something kinda new for me. I've been inspired by the game (obviously) and just can't stop thinking about this story. I've never written anything like this so bare with me please. Hopefully it will get better further along and I get feeback and my bearings for this kind of world.**

**Disclaimer: Own nothing but the plot and a few characters**

The giant ship glided through space like it was a boat in water, moving so fluidly that it was like it wasn't moving at all. Marines on board the cruiser _Pillar of Autumn_ seemed a little relaxed and yet the overbearing feeling of apprehension and dread couldn't be ignored. It was like everything from now on would be this way with the way their lives were now. On the bridge sat marines at all stations, manning the space and watching for anything out of the ordinary. In space…that could be a lot of things. Standing on the bridge with his hazel eyes and an old pipe clutched in his hand, the captain watched the sparkling stars in front of them. His hand fiddled with the pipe, turning it over in his hand a few times but never actually bringing it to his lips. He hadn't done that since the first invasion by the Covenant. From the vastness in front of him, he turned way and looked at the pipe in his hand before stuffing it away and turning back the glass.

"Cortana, I want to know if we've lost them…" Captain Keyes said as a purple, naked woman appeared on a holographic console beside him with her hands on her hips.

Short, bobbed hair cut, almond shaped blue eyes, a slim, curvy figure made of data flickered into view, "I think we both know the answer to that." Smooth, sardonic and alluringly sexy, Cortana spoke up again, "In slipspace my maneuvering is limited."

"Can you tell where they are?" the captain asked, staring through the enormous window trying to find any trace of those sleek purple space crafts.

The onboard A.I. placed two fingers against her temple, "Sorry sir, sensors aren't picking anything up."

Keyes cursed under his breath, "Damn! Where could they be hiding…"

"Uhm sir, I know we're in a bit of a bind here but I was wondering if I could step out for a moment," Cortana asked of the captain. It was preposterous of her to be doing such a thing but she felt a need.

The captain looked at her transparent frame, her data streaming by, "Ten minutes Cortana. But if we're engaged I want you back on deck and at the MAC guns the moment I say."

"Of course sir," Cortana answered and flickered from view.

She had felt the elevation in pulse and heard the light huffs of pain through the COM systems that she managed within the ship. There was no way to deny the torment that she was picking up on from one of the rooms that held the soldiers onboard. Room 224; the door was locked and not a single light had been turned on. Darkness enveloped the room as the A.I. looked around and saw the sole occupant laying on the bed, curled up in a ball and burying their face into their pillow. Short red hair was cut to the line of the jaw with bangs falling into the electric blue eyes hiding behind the red curtain. The tiny figure of the soldier was well kept, tight muscles lined a feminine physic; high cheek bones gave her a heart shaped face without a single blemish to tarnish her beautiful features. An hourglass figure gave way to a perfect bust for the tiny figure and nicely shaped butt. With a closer look, Cortana saw tears slide over the bridge of the young woman's nose and get absorbed by the cloth of the pillow beneath her head.

"Sergeant Grey…"Cortana's voice cut through the painful silence.

A sniffle and the red head sat up as Cortana flickered into the room and in front of the Sergeant's line of sight, "Hello ma'am…'

"Sergeant I was receiving irregular heart rhythms from your room, is everything alright?" the smart computer asked, taking a sitting position in the middle of the tiny room; floating.

"Yes…" the sergeant wiped her puffy pink eyes. "Everything is fine…it's just our home has been destroyed."

Cortana knew that she was lying by the rhythm of her pulse, "Are you sure because that's not what your body is telling me."

Sergeant Grey brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, "…Mmm, I'd rather not."

"Sergeant Grey…" the tiny, glowing figure got up and walked over to the soldier and sat on the bed beside her, "You knew Noble Team didn't you?" the sergeant looked over to the A.I. with eyes wide. "I looked in your file; they were mentioned."

The red head dropped her face into her hands and cried. It was then that Cortana knew that she wasn't just crying for her fallen home, but for Noble Team. The A.I. knew them, not personally, but she had read their files front to back and back to front. They had been the ones to extract her from Reach and bring her to the ship they all now occupied. But what Cortana didn't know and couldn't figure out was why she cared so much for a team that she had only met once. The Sergeant had no squad and it was noted that she didn't make friends well with fellow soldiers, so she couldn't be crying over the thousands of losses they had suffered. Cortana put a hand on the Sergeant's upper arm sympathetically and that's when she heard it. The glossy eyed soldier spoke a name that she had kept to memory and refused to erase. There was a good reason for it too.

"Carter…" she paused and removed her hand, "as in Noble Team's commander?"

Blue eyes had turned to a steely, pearl gray as she looked up and over to the transparent woman, "The files don't say anything about it but we're married…"

She didn't know Sergeant Grey personally but she felt for the young woman, "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that." Cortana's violet blue eyes looked up at the depressed woman with painful sympathy, but then a thought struck, "Why is your marriage not on record?"

"Because…" the young sergeant sighed as she finally unhooked herself and stood up, "he's Spartan and Spartan's aren't allowed to have normal lives," she said with a sardonic tone, waving her hands in the air melodramatically and contorting her face as if she were mocking someone.

For a moment, the room was silent as the sergeant took another seat, this time on the floor. In this quick moment, Cortana accessed her data processors and thought; the symbols streaming across her body. Was that really true? Were the Spartans never allowed to have normal lives? She had never known a Spartan that seemed to care for having a normal life. All of them seemed ready and willing to do their duty as Spartan's and nothing else. She wondered, did they ever think about it? Did the Spartan's ever wonder what it would be like to live as a normal civilian? Did they wonder if they'd even be able to after serving the UNSC for so long? The kind of training they received would never leave them; so would it affect the way they lived? Her moment was up when she heard the sergeant making noise as she shifted to get comfortable on the floor. There was a heavy sigh and then a flat chuckle from the soldier which caused the A.I. to tilt her head to the side in curiosity.

"What is it?" she asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. At least this curiosity wouldn't kill her.

She shook her head, "Just remembering when we met…" Cortana sat cross legged in the air, in front the sergeant eager to listen to her story.


	2. Transmission Outpost 375

"Sergeant…" a soft voice cooed as someone touched the Sergeant's shoulder. There was a stir from under a blanket and a grumble as the worn blanket was pulled over their head. From the lieutenant trying to wake up his commanding officer, he rolled his green eyes and forcefully pushed the Sergeant off their bed, "Sergeant Grey, get up!"

Sergeant Grey tumbled out of bed with a scream, "AH!" A hand shot up from the floor and gripped the sheets on the bed as red hair emerged from behind the bed, sapphire blue eyes glaring at the subordinate, "Lieutenant Jenkins…!"

"Now wait a minute ma'am…" the private placed his hands in front of him in defense, knowing his superior officer. "Just because we're out in the middle of nowhere, doesn't mean we don't have a job to do," he added, backing away from the Sergeant's room.

"Pfft!' the female Sergeant calmed and crossed her arms as she walked around her bed with a lazy glare. The Sergeant waved her subordinate to follow her, "We're in the middle of nowhere, constantly listening to gargled mess." The two soldiers walked onto the main floor of their UNSC facility in the middle of her sentence; seeing everyone else awake and working, lazily.

Sergeant Grey stood on deck and when her subordinates noticed her, they greeted her with a salute and formal, verbal greeting. Sitting in her chair with her main group of privates, she looked at the calendar on the arm of her chair. Digital blue lights jumped into her line of sight. God! It was only May 30th, 2547. She's been stuck on this desolate rock for an entire year! Slumping down into the chair, the red bangs of the twenty-four year old Sergeant fell into her eyes and she huffed a disgruntled breath while rolling her eyes. Her finger tips tapped against the arms of her commanding chair as she looked around at all the people on the deck with her and suddenly felt sorry for all of them. They were all stuck in this rock together. The middle of nowhere, a UNSC facility on a slagheap in a desert. The air was always humid or hot and at night it was always freezing cold; it was like someone didn't know what temperature they wanted.

She looked over at her second in command and how he sat at a desk with a giant monitor in his face. Lieutenant Eric Jenkins was just as young as she was, only two years her junior and for a military man he had surprisingly soft features. He had steel green eyes that weren't penetrating like you might expect with the same eyes on someone else, they were soft and tired from seeing so many dead. He had transferred from the battlefield, unable to take the horrible deaths any longer. From the year he had spent at the transmission facility his originally military cut had grown into a short cut able to be spiked by just running a wet hand through his dark brown hair. It was a cut you saw with civilian males quite often. He was well muscled and the only way he kept in shape now was by running five miles everyday in the crippling heat. Sergeant Grey's eyes shifted to the rest of her platoon; all of them lazily hard at work.

"Echoes!" she called as she finally sat up straight in her chair.

A mousy, clean cut woman with hazel eyes and black hair jogged up to the red head, "Ma'am?" she saluted her superior.

Blue eyes looked over the deceiving woman and nonchalantly waved her hand, "At ease…"

"What do you need ma'am?" Private Echoes asked, dropping her arm to her side.

"You and everyone on deck are in charge while Jenkins and I relieve the engineers downstairs," she said standing from her chair and straightening her uniform jacket. "Jenkins, to me."

His green eyes jumped over his shoulder and widened as he suddenly jumped to his feet, "Ma'am!" He gave a tentative salute as he came up to her side.

She looked him over for a second and why he was suddenly being formal around her, "We're going downstairs."

"Ma'am…" he asked giving her a strange look as the two left the main transmissions room and walked down a long corridor. He wasn't a big fan of going downstairs with all the engineers and their tank like bodies.

"Oh buck up Jenkins! They won't eat you," Sergeant Grey joked with a smirk and a light slap to his shoulder.

She had no problems saying that to him, she had nothing to worry about. The engineers wouldn't eat her, she was their commanding officer. Although he looked as if he wasn't afraid, he was. Every time he went downstairs with her, they always seemed to want to pick a fight with him. Green eyes looked over at their Sergeant and mentally remembered the last bad encounter with the engineers had happened. Three weeks ago when he was sent to go relieve the large group of mechanical soldiers, he had accidentally knocked a large machine piece off its container and broke it. They weren't very happy about that because they had to fix it, manually. Just as they were about to gang up on him and kick the shit out of him, Sergeant Grey stepped in. Just as a large fist was about to connect with his face a feminine hand caught it and threw it back in the engineer's face. She had told them if they wanted to pick a fight, do it in the training room and not near a large amount of expensive equipment.

"Jade," the commanding officer called to the air. To answer her call a holographic woman appeared beside the two soldiers.

Thick, red, curly hair took over the crown of her head, menacing but alluring golden eyes with matching make-up accent her sweet, angular face, "Yes Sergeant Grey?" Jade asked walking with them in the air. Her champagne colored dress with thick straps and a hem that stopped just at her knees, gold adornments around her waist clinking as she walked and the hem swaying against her nonexistent, knee high Roman sandal covered legs. A scroll of parchment was grasped within one of her hands, a gold crown in her red hair.

"How are the repairs coming? Are they finally finished?" Sergeant Grey asked as she looked over to the Roman goddess looking A.I.

"We are in the final stages of repair ma'am," the thick culmination of English and French accents came from Jade's voice processors. Her eyes scanned over the parchment in her hand, "It seems that by my calculations we should be working at full capacity again in…" she paused for a single moment, "Forty-eight hours."

Sergeant Grey groaned and ran a hand over her face, "Alright, thank you Jade. Go tell Private Lloyd to be ready for the lunch rush."

"Aye, ma'am," Jade replied with a court nod of her head, her lush hair falling over her shoulders and her frame flickering out of the corridor.

The two finally found a door at the very end of the second corridor they had walked down. On the metal door it read 'Maintenance'. Hitting a keypad, the door slid open and both walked through the threshold and down a staircase. Sergeant Grey doesn't even feel a flicker of unease as she and her Lieutenant descend into a different world. What she did feel is the heat being poured out from heating machines that sat in the giant room that took up the entire basement of the facility. The two of them were about to come upon the first group of engineers when Jade's voice called to them over the COM.

"Sergeant Grey you are wanted on deck immediately, please comply," Jade requested calmly.

The Sergeant groaned, "Oh what now?" It seemed lately that everything was falling apart around them.

Unexpectedly she received answer from the A.I., "It seems that Private Echoes has found something…" there was a pause from over the COM system inside the facility, "Interesting."

"Alright, I'll be right up," Sergeant Grey huffed with disregard, mostly hoping that whatever her private had found was nothing more than more static. The paperwork that she would have to do jut to submit something that was remotely thought of as useful would back her into next year!

As she and her Lieutenant walked back up to the main deck, she felt something drop over her like a curtain. Of course, that kind of feeling was normal in this year and the more recent years. With the Covenant looming overhead, who didn't feel a similar feeling? But suddenly her senses were at their peak, she was on guard like she would be jumped from behind at any moment. Her amount of ungodly training was throwing itself at the forefront of her brain, stabbing her with dread. The five foot two Sergeant looked over at her six foot Lieutenant and wondered if he felt the same way out of the blue. He didn't seemed to be bothered by anything except being happy to not be going down to see the engineers.

They got closer to the transmission room and a passed by a window. The sandstorm outside made it hard to see a foot outside of the building. It was like nature was telling her that evil would be descending upon them. Sergeant Grey hoped that it was just her imagination playing tricks on her to try and keep her on her toes. They reached the main room.

"Okay," she walked up to the mousy woman, "So what is it that you think you found?"

Her blue eyes looked at the holo-screen in front of them with light blinking out of control on the screen, "Listen…" the Private removed a pair of headphones and handed them to her boss.

"…" the red head took the headphones and Echoes played the transmission for her.

Listening, all she heard was static and more static. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary; but then she heard it. It was a tiny ping, so faint that she almost didn't hear it. Closing her eyes, placing her hand on one of the phones, she concentrated on the noise behind the static. She told Jennifer to cut the foreground noise, who did so promptly. There was a moment of silence…Sergeant Grey's eyes widened and she gasped. They were right, they had found something! She listened intently, as hard as she could. It was nothing she had ever heard before and yet her mind rifled through her audio memories and seemed to find something that was similar to what she was listening to now. She listened a little longer, memorizing the audio and committing it to her enormous memory in her mind.

"No way…" there was a gasp from one of the Privates at the window.

Others began to look out the windows and began to panic, "It's the Covenant!" Private Dohjer screamed.

"Ma'am!" Lieutenant Jenkins tapped on her shoulder and she spun around to face him.

She tore off the headphones and looked out the windows to see the familiar purple masses of Covenant cruisers known as Phantoms, "Shit!" She turned to the rest of those in the room, "Initiate Cole Protocol Alpha! Purge it all!" Everyone began running around and making sure everything couldn't be traced or used by the Covenant, "Jenkins, on me!"

"Ma'am?" he inquired sounding nervous, but not yet scared. Jenkins was a good guy.

"Lock those doors! I don't want those slimy things setting foot in my facility," she barked over the sound of feet coming closer, people yelling in panic and plasma firing.

He gave a hard salute, "Aye ma'am!"

This was just too convenient. Right after they intercept a strange and encrypted transmission they get bombarded by a wave of Covenant. Too much just didn't seem to make sense now. She watched as Jenkins ran over to the doors and windows and began shutting and locking them as tight as he could. Sergeant Grey ran from the deck ordering Jade to follow her. She ran to her barracks and fell to her knees just as she heard the front doors burst open and people began screaming. Rifling through a chest in the very back of her closet full of fatigues, she pulled out a wrist sized computer.

"Jade, I have to shut you down, A.I. are considered part of the Cole Protocol," she said looking over t the floating goddess who didn't seemed at all bothered by what was going on.

She looked over to the open door and around the room, "…Pull me…"

Sergeant Grey plugged in the codes that would shut down the facility's A.I. and render her unusable by the Covenant. Lieutenant Jenkins appeared at the door and threw his Sergeant a .45 magnum, standard issue in the UNSC. Opening a secret compartment in her barracks, Sergeant Grey stashed Jade away to be found and reactivated at a later date. Gunfire tore through the barracks and corridors, drawing closer.

In the haste of smoke and panic the only thing she saw was Jenkins toppling over with a burn to his chest. Sergeant Grey crawled to his side, grabbed his remaining clips, cocked her gun and the moment something inhuman came into the room it was up at the ready. With him in her arms, she felt his pulse still beating and glared dangerously at the Elite towering above her. She saw the plasma rifle aimed at her head and begin to glow; it was then that she had a revelation. Everyone would be safe. Or anyone that was still alive.

"You kill me, you lose any chance of finding what it is you came looking for," she spoke up, her gun still held high.

The white armored Elite looked at her over the rifle, "What makes you important human?"

"I'm the commander of this facility, I know everything that has come through here better than anyone. I'm of plenty use," she replied icily. Jenkins coughed heavily beside her.

Blood trickled down the side of his mouth, "Since…" he coughed, "when…?"

She looked down at him and smiled, "What do you think I do all day? Sleep?" It was a joke and he knew it. He laughed and cringed in pain. "Don't worry Lieutenant, you'll be just fine…" she paused at looked up at the Elite, "You let everyone that's still alive live and I'm all yours."

"Deal," he hissed as he grabbed her throat causing her to drop the magnum.

The illuminate blues, purples and silvers blinded her at first. Luckily it wasn't long before her eyes adjusted to the brightness and she groaned. Blue eyes looked around and saw wounded dying in front of her. She ran for them but a transparent blue wall stopped her and pushed her back. As she was getting up from the opposite wall, it dropped and something came up to her, shading out the light. It was just a shadow to her adjusting vision. The next thing she knew she was being punched in the face and forced to wake up and focus her vision. Focusing, she saw the same Elite that had cornered her in her room.

"You son of a bitch!" she screamed flailing against smooth, icy metal. "You lied to me! You promised that they would live."

He turned his back to her and walked over to a console, turning to look at her again, "I never promised anything." He hit a few buttons on the console and the Sergeant's eyes widened. Those that were still alive and lucid enough to understand what was going on around them, they heard the most sickening and blood curdling scream.


	3. The First Encounter

**A/N: Well the next chapter is up! It took a little while because I was debating on where to end it. But I finally found the perfect place! Now, in this chapter you may be wondering why the Spartans aren't where they should be and it's not the team everyone knows. It's five years before the Reach inccident so they have not completely become the team we know them from. But no worries okay. Surprises lay in wait... **

**Thank you to Blind Sniper for the awesome review! Though lengthy it may have been, lol, I certainly enjoyed it and am glad you are enjoying the story so far. And Sergeant Dreamer, thank you very much. It was very enthusiastic. **

"Push 'em back Noble!" a male voice shouted over the COM channel special to Noble Team. A yellow cased grunt came teetering over to the man commanding the team, plasma pistol raised. He squeezed the trigger and a short burst erupted from the barrel of his assault rifle.

A pair of Jackals, with glowing shields defending them, advanced on heavy weapons specialist Jorge. Bringing his .50 caliber chain gun around he unloaded, "Trying to come up from behind…that's not very sporting!" It took a moment, but his chain gun broke through their shields and put them down.

"Why are the Covenant still here?" the muffled question of tech specialist Kat came from over the COM. "Son of a…" Kat noticed a blue glow about two and a half feet away from her and began running. The plasma grenade exploded and thrust the Spartan five feet in the air and twelve feet away.

"Kat!" Warrant Officer Carter shouted as he watched his fellow Spartan be thrown like a ragdoll by the explosion.

The blue armored Spartan ran to his teammate and picked up her upper body. Turning her over from the side she was laying on, he saw that her right arm had been blown to bits. It was still there but it was so mangled that he knew it would be completely useless to her. With his assault rifle held to keep Covenant at bay, he picked up the Lieutenant with her good arm around his shoulders and held her up on her feet. A Skirmisher! With a needle rifle in its alien hands it shot at the wounded Spartan and Carter carrying her. It had him pinned!

"I'm pinned!" he shouted, firing his assault rifle while the Skirmisher dodged a few bursts at time while firing back. There was a groan from Kat beside him as she slowly began to wake from unconsciousness. Pushing off Carter, she relieved him of his M6G magnum and nailed a shot straight through the skull of the Jackal cousin.

"That's how it's done…" she breathed heavily and dropped to her knees, grabbing at her mangled arm. She hissed in agonizing pain and looked at the bloody mess that was her arm, "Damn…"

Their Commander hulked over as the other three teammates worked on clearing the area of Covenant, "Kat, are you okay?" he asked looking at her through the tinted glass of his helmet.

She winced, "That grenade blew my arm."

"Command," he touched a spot on his helmet and opened a line to command.

"Noble One we're receiving, what is it you need?" someone at command answered.

He looked at Kat, "We need med-evac now." He turned to Carter who was still kneeling with Kat, "Carter, **get** out there and help them!" he shouted to his subordinate, pointing to the battlefield.

"Sir!" he gave the man a salute and got to his feet. He looked over at Kat before rushing back into the field.

Jorge held his enormous chain gun, firing at everything that wasn't covered in Spartan armor. Thom, Noble Five, ran straight into the head of the enemy; watching for Jorge's gunfire. Tanner was right behind them with a M319 grenade launcher, shooting grenade after grenade. They were gaining the upper hand when Carter joined them, that was until a frightening green glow could be seen through the thick dust of fire and sand. The four of them jumped out of the way as the devastating bolt shot past them and slammed into the ground ten feet from Kat and their Commander. Carter saw a blue ball with green lights glowing on it. He grabbed it, jumped to his feet and chucked the grenade at the giant Hunter. The plasma ball stuck to the orange flesh under the thick blue armor and exploded 1.25 seconds later after touching the jelly flesh.

"Thom, Tanner, move up behind it and hit the flesh; we'll draw its attention," Carter motioned for them to execute the plan. Noble Four and Five sprinted and broke from the two playing bait.

"Come on you ugly alien!" Jorge shouted with a grin under his helmet and the chain gun starting to fire off rounds.

The pelican touched down in the beginning of the Spartans taking on the hunter and Cutter helped load up Noble Three. They removed her helmet and began removing her armor, sedating her with powerful drugs. The operation would be long and complicated; even a Spartan wouldn't be able to stand the pain they would put her through to give her a new arm. In the second after the pelican took off to save Noble Three, Cutter threw himself into the action; helping his team. With two more grenades and a barrage of the assault rifle the hunter went down, dead. There was silence that followed. One of their team was critically wounded and they were worried if she would make it. They knew she was a fighter, but still, the idea floated around them.

"Fan out, search the area," Cutter commanded with two fingers pointing further into the curtain that surrounded them. "I want us all within visual range incase something goes wrong."

"Sir!" the four said in unison and broke off to search the area.

Thom kicked over a piece of debris, "What are we looking for?"

"Whatever tells us what happened here," Cutter replied as he looked around at the ruined building. He walked closer to a wall nearby and noticed the scorch marks on the metal that had been made into a structural wall.

Carter walked along the cluttered ground, looking around him and almost tripped over something, "I don't think we'll find anything useful. Everyone's been killed." The blue eyes behind his helmet looked down at a near skeletal body in a uniform that was covered in dirt, dried blood and burn marks. The tag said that this soldier's name was Private Echoes.

"According to command not everyone has been accounted for. A few transponders are missing," their Commander responded.

"I think I found a clue…" Tanner spoke up. The other four turned to him and he pointed the barrel of his rifle into the air. They all looked up and saw a Covenant super carrier hovering above them in orbit.

Jorge scratched his head, "Well that's…uh…" he tried to search for the right word, "Inconspicuous." He turned to his Commander, "Sir, what are we going to do?"

"We're going up…" he answered.

"Sir, shouldn't we wait for Kat?" one of the asked.

He looked at them and sighed, "We don't have that kind of time."

/

There was a low groan and a blanket of goose bumps coated the near naked body of Sergeant Grey. Blue eyes fluttered open slowly, seeing the luminous blue wall that caged her. For a moment her vision was blurred, but as she blinked her vision focused. Placing her palms under her shoulders, she pushed her upper body up off the floor and she looked around. The purple metal alloy walls were dark even with all of the light from the holographic control console and the doors to the cells. With a hand against her head, she slowly sat up, shaking away the light headache she had. She groaned again. A heavy sigh escaped her lips and she slumped against the wall. Her gaze shifted and looked at the wall she was sitting against. Beside her were white lines she had scratched into the wall with a broken piece of metal. The days had ticked away rather quickly. She wondered if they would even send anyone to look for them.

"Ma'am…don't look so discouraged," the nearly dead voice of her Lieutenant spoke up from across the room.

Her head popped up, "Lieutenant Jenkins?"

"Yes ma'am," he answered.

"How did you survive?" she asked with surprise in her voice.

The young Lieutenant pushed himself up and leaned against the wall, "You're not the only stubborn one…" He coughed and sighed heavily, resting his arms atop his knees and dropping his head. "Do you think they'll send a rescue for us?"

She jumped to her knees and pounded her fist against the energy wall, feeling the recoil, "Don't start thinking like that Lieutenant! We will be rescued…" she paused and sat back down, "Both of us."

_SWOOSH!_ The sound of the automated doors filled the room and three Elites entered the medium sized room. Both looked up to see a white elite standing in front of two blue armored elites. Instantly upon seeing them, Sergeant Grey's eyes narrowed considerably. She should have known that they wouldn't keep their end of the deal; never trust aliens. Watching them walk through the room and to the floating, holographic control board towards the back of the room, there was a ping of deep set nervousness. Maybe even fear. They both knew what it meant when the elites came to the cell wing; it was just a matter of who they would take.

There was nothing but silence. One of the blue elites walked to the control pad of the cell doors while the other two walked over to the erect energy wall. Metallic blue eyes looked up at the towering figures and growled. No way in hell they'd take her so easily! The wall fell and she slammed herself into the white elite that had been the one to take her hostage to begin with. Fatigue and pain hugged her body but she pushed through it and backhanded the blue one standing beside the white one. With a spin it fell on its back, dropping its weapon. Her messy and dirty hair hung in her face as she saw the other elite come rushing towards her. Quickly grabbing the plasma rifle dropped by the first blue elite, she jumped on top of the one on its back, and slammed it into its face.

Back flipping off of the alien, she grabbed one of its ankles and spun it around. Its body struck the two aliens that were on their feet, knocking them back. Sergeant Grey picked the unconscious alien up over her head and chucked it at them. The blue unconscious alien rammed into the conscious one and they toppled over onto the floor. Grabbing the plasma rifle that she had dropped in order to pick up the alien, she shot a few shots at the downed alien. The plasma penetrated the shields generated by the armor it wore and after continuing to fire the weapon, she was able to kill it. Turning around her face was aglow with blue plasma. In the light of the upper heated plasma steel silver eyes refracted different colors from the angle at which she looked up at the white armored elite. The glowing barrel was pointed point blank and between the eyes as he stared down at her before knocking her out.

"Troublesome human…" he sighed picking Sergeant Grey up by her throat and dragging her out of the room. The wounded alien followed after them, rubbing its head.

Lieutenant Jenkins watched her fight with a held breath. He could feel his heart lump up in his throat and his adrenaline pump through his veins. She was so injured! It was amazing that she could still stand, let alone fight three elites without a weapon. When she was knocked out he jumped to his feet and leaned his face against the blue cage door. The towering alien grabbed his boss by her throat and he started pounding on the shield, and making as much noise as possible. It was futile.

It had been at least an hour; or what he thought was an hour. There was no way of telling what time it was on this alien ship. In the corner of his cell he sat with his knees up and his head resting on his arms and sighed heavily. He hadn't heard a single scream this time. The only time his had heard his Sergeant scream was the first day they had been taken aboard the ship. Of course, he didn't know how far away from the cells she was, but he could hear her agonizing screams echo throughout the ship. It was possible that everyone else on this ship could have heard her screaming too. But now, he didn't hear a sound. Was she dead?

"…soldier," a voice spoke to him. Green eyes looked up and were shocked at what they saw. "What's your name solider?"

"Spartans?" he breathed, bringing up his head to see a group of Spartans walking around outside his cell. He heard something coming closer. In all the silence and being alone it was hard not to hear everything going on around you, because that's all you can do. "If you don't wish to die, I suggest you hide now."

"Hey…!" a muffled voice grumbled from behind the automated doors of the supper carrier. The Spartan team split up and hid in the few shadows the room contained.

The metallic purple doors slid open and to the eyes of the Spartans, three Elites were standing at the double doors with a young red headed officer in their alien hands. The woman fought against her captors, struggled. Red hair flew around her face making it hard to see by the Spartans as they took cover. A white armored, three fingered hand came up and struck the female officer in the face. With a grunt, she collapsed in his hand and the alien dragged her back to her cell.

The alien threw the woman into her cell which woke her up. She pushed her upper body up and looked over her shoulder at the alien, "Bastard…" she hissed under her breath.

Jenkins came up to the door of his cell with a smile on his face, "Ma'am, you're never going to believe who they sent to rescue us…"

Blue eyes shifted up as Sergeant Grey sat up, looking at Jenkins after the Elites had left. Out of the shadows she saw movement and then everything was clear to her vision, "Great…"


End file.
